Those were the two options billionaire tycoon Silas Arnett gave me when I was caught embezzling money from his company.
Accepting the proposal was a no-brainer, but I’d soon learn that he’d given me a deal hand delivered from the devil himself.
Silas gave me six months to become the perfect wife, stripping me of my name and identity to create the blank canvas he needed to mold me into his masterpiece.
All I had to do was follow his training manual and do what was expected of me in order to survive.
But all that glittered wasn’t gold, and Silas wouldn’t make this process easy for me. I still had a debt to pay, one that only accepted pain and blood as currency.
In six months, I would be the wife to a billionaire and have the chance to create the life and family I never had.
I just had to survive long enough to make it down the aisle.
Note: While "A Wife For Silas" has heavy dark romance themes and situations, it is NOT a romance. There is no HEA in this duet.
What the actual FUCK was this? I thought there was supposed to be no HEA for Silas, not Lia. But instead, this dumbass just moves on to another woman in the next book.
If you’re expecting some twisted, obsessive antihero driven by brutality and buried feelings - forget it. Silas hated Lia the entire book. He literally forced her to get plastic surgery just so he’d find her more interesting to look at.
Silas is the worst male lead I’ve ever read. I usually find something redeeming in a villain. Take Darren’s jealous and possessive streak in the Stronger Series by Jay Marie or Shayne’s obsessive love for Ava in The Beauty & The Darkness Trilogy by Iris Ann Hunter - both five-star reads for me, and just as dark. But Silas? He’s awful in every possible way. His chapters were infuriating, and I couldn’t stand him.
What I love about dark erotic thrillers is the moral dilemma - wondering whether I should sympathize with the villain or not. This book gave me none of that. There was absolutely nothing to look forward to with Silas. No intrigue, no depth, no internal conflict. Just a flat-out asshole from start to finish.
Anyone comparing Darren to Silas should be ashamed. Darren may be dark, but at least he’s compelling. Compared to Silas, he’s a gem. Honestly, Darren would eat Silas’ heart for breakfast.
I liked Lia, don’t get me wrong - but she’s no Jaden from Jay Marie’s Stronger Series. Jaden is a fighter through and through. Lia deserved better, but she wasn’t given the space to truly shine.
This book wasn’t a thriller. A thriller needs an exciting plot, and this didn’t have one. The story was completely stagnant. Silas had zero character development. Just abuse, abuse, and more abuse - repetitive and empty.
And before anyone says, “You should’ve checked your triggers,” - I did. The content wasn’t the problem. If you want dark themes done well, read The Beauty & The Darkness Trilogy. The characters are rich, and the plot actually goes somewhere.
This book had no purpose.The only reason I’m not giving it one star is because of Lia. All the stars go to her. She was done dirty.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
If I got a euro for every time I said “what the fuck,” while reading this book I’d be rich rich because honestly, what the actual fuck?! I knew this book didn’t have a happily ever after, but not in that way!!
And why is there a 5 star rating? There was no plot. And don’t even start with the “based on enjoyment,” excuse because there’s no way you seriously enjoyed what happened in that book.
Silas is a true sociopath. After reading the prologue, I wondered how he could possibly ever redeem himself, but by the end of chapter 3? Yeah there’s no redemption for him.
Lia is forced into a marriage with Silas after he discovers she stole money from him. Instead of dealing with it legally, he decides to punish her himself. He essentially imprisons her in his home and treats her as nothing more than a wife in name and a means to produce heir specifically only male heir.
He strips her of her name, her identity, and even her face, forcing her to undergo surgery that makes her unrecognizable and reshapes her into the kind of woman he prefers.
And he did not stop at that, he start abusing her, rapping her repeatedly and beating her until she passes out and he mentally, physically and psychologically destroyed her, and if that was not enough he locked her in a room with her foster father who had already raped her when she was a little. After each act of cruelty, he simply goes to sleep and wakes up ready to invent new ways to torment her.
By the end of the book, he kills her and then what does he do? He just moves on and starts looking for another woman to use for an heir, as if nothing he did was wrong.
I don’t plan on reading the second book, so I looked up reviews, and apparently Lia actually didn’t die but she never comes back, never gets justice, and never takes revenge. And to my shock, Silas gets a happy ending. How does someone this monstrous get to walk away with everything?
I recommend the author and anyone who enjoyed this book seek professional help.
This was more a horror romance. Not what I expected. I read there was no HEA and triggers which is exactly what this book is. Basically it’s about a billionaire psychopath who wants an heir and traps a woman who he’ll eventually marry. She, of course has no choice and he is not the nicest guy. Lots of warnings in this disturbing story.
The part where the h brings her molester and locks her in with him so he can rape her because she was being disobedient while he recorded the video and got off on it was something out of a nightmare.
Ok-the writing (syntax etc) is fine but what redeeming quality does the H have??? It’s very dark content but there is nothing to grasp onto for the reader. It’s dark with zero slivers of light. And that ending?
There are too many triggers that take this beyond dark. The children. The ex foster father. The ending.
Silas is a true villain, non-redeemable, unhinged to the point of caricature. He gives Darren from the Stronger series a run for his money, and I think, supersedes him in a very linear way. Darkest fiction I've read in a while. Romantic horror. But the dark humor, the engaging plot, the "I can't believe he did that!", and the fact that Lia was strong make the book readable. Lia isn't innocent, and I felt sorry for her, but ..well... Silas is absolutely, terrifyingly brutal. He is a sociopath, psychopath.
It wasn’t love that made me feel alive; it was her misery and tormented spirit. “You made me realize that it’s not the act of sex I actually enjoy, but the pain I cause during it.” - Silas
“But I’ve realized that Silas doesn’t care about anyone. Everyone is disposable to him.” - Maryse
Biggest issue I had with this story was the lack of balance. The only levity was the dark humor from the unbelievable stuff Silas conjures. Lia never wins, not even small wins.
Basically, I liked but didn’t like the story. I hated Silas.
Also, the grammatical errors in this book were heinous!
Jesus fucking Christ what the fuck have I just been through. I may as well have just ran at a wall covered in spikes it would of been easier 🙃🙃
Couldn’t get enough of it though 🤣 I physically couldn’t put it down! I fell in love with him as well for a decent amount until it went off in the last 100 pages.
Now I need a bottle of vodka and a straw and a packet of fags to level myself out whilst laying horizontal with my eyes closed! Cheers!!
This book is DARK...Heed those warnings! It is not romance, it is a twisted, messed up story full of unimaginable actions and unbelievable punishment's for Lia/Alyssa. Silas is a dark depraved man, a sociopath or psychopath or both, but he is definitely diabolical and unable to feel emotion. He inflicts pain for his pleasure and that's all that matters. 🖤🖤🖤 This is the first book I have read by Tori Sullivan and it won't be the last. Silas stayed true to his character throughout this book, he did not deviate. And poor Lia, my heart broke for her and her search for why she is not loveable or wanted. It was gut wrenching to listen to her pleas and wishes. I really, REALLY wanted to give this book 5 stars but it needs a good editor to correct some of the errors and mistakes.
It is not the kind book that delves into the taboo or darkness to titilate or intrigue. This is just darkness. To warn you, the disclaimer is correct - there is no redemption or any kind of feeling from the main character at any stage. I feel as though this book goes above that disclaimer because this is so dark it almost becomes tedious. There are no redeeming qualities, and there is nothing that would make a reader want to invest in and care about the characters or the storyline.
I am no newbie to dark themed books, but the core tenet of dark novels is the intrigue. There is no intrigue with this book because Silas, an apparently "clinically diagnosed sociopath," doesn't give a shit about anyone or anything and makes stupid decisions despite his alleged lack of emotions.
*Story building*
'A Wife for Silas' follows the same, 'abuse, day to recover, abuse, recover, abuse, no recovery, abuse' pattern from start to finish, and the end results in a piece of work that instilled a 'why did I bother reading this' feeling from me. There is no character or story development. This is dark for the sake of being dark.
Silas's parents are two dimensional and unnecessary, despite being portrayed as being significant to his character. Other minor characters, likewise, are not fleshed out enough to be introduced by name to the reader. It is a sea of names and no benefit to reading them, e.g., staff in the house, his business partners, the yoga teacher, his business partner's wife, his business partner's wife's father.... all introduced by name, but what for? It does not propell the story forward at all because these are all one line characters who rarely (bar the few repeats) serve any purpose for being there.
*Corrections needed*
From an editorial/proofreading perspective, this needs work. There are frequent mistakes, and a majority of them are minor but common enough that it can take some rereading and using the powers of deduction to figure out what was originally meant in the sentence.
Secondly, the use of addicting throughout the book is incorrect. Addicting is a present participle of the verb addict. It is the equivalent of saying "he was so predicting," instead of "he was so predictable,". Addictive is the adjective derived from a noun and would be more appropriate for within the scenarios in the book.
*Overall*
My very lengthy (sorry) and overly detailed review is due to two things.
1. Warning other readers of what is ahead if they read 'A Wife for Silas' before they invest time, and in some cases money to do so.
2. The author has skill. She writes many parts of the book well, but in my humble opinion, this was published prematurely. It needs story and character development and proofreading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A Wife for Silas is the first book in The Dark Life of Silas duology by author Tori Sullivan. The second book is entitled An Heir for Silas. Unfortunately Sullivan decided to unpublish and halt sales of all their writing and has rather successfully scrubbed much of their content from the internet.
A Wife for Silas is an erotic horror story. The MMC is Silas, a billionaire businessman seeking revenge against the FMC, Lia. Silas caught Lia embezzling his money. To avoid a lengthy prison sentence Lia agrees to a contract which, at the end of a trial period, she’ll marry him.
Silas doesn’t care about anyone but himself because he’s the definition of a remorseless psychopath. However he wants an heir to his name and fortune and thus a wife to help procure his father’s approval.
The abuse Silas inflicts upon Lia is horrific. It’s non-con and includes both physical and psychological torture. Silas has to be the most abhorrent and reprehensible character I’ve read. There’s one scene in particular that I still can’t wrap my brain around, how an author even comes up with these ideas is beyond me.
All of that said, I actually really liked this book. What the actual fuck that says about me is a question for my psychiatrist to answer. Many of us who read horror do so because it’s all the worst, scariest stuff we can imagine happening put on paper before us. Well, A Wife for Silas certainly qualifies for that. I’ve read splatterpunk and this is not that. To me, it’s even worse because Silas is cunningly evil and goes out of his way to plan the awful shit he does to Lia.
I’d like to know why the author decided to pull all her work. Maybe it’s because too many people were traumatized by the depravity of her imagination. I know it haunts me. It took over six months to write this review because I didn’t want to think about it!
I thought that I could love Silas, I really did. Some authors say their villains aren't lovable, that it's toxic, but I was like "bet" THIS MAN woke up every day and chose violence - and I loved it. This is not a romance - I literally can not express this enough. It was recommended to me as such and it was not. Silas is a vicious, brutal, vengeful psychopath who does not change AT ALL and it's beautiful. I hope the 2nd book he softens up a bit because I would love to see that for him since he is trying for an heir to his dynasty, but I have small hopes, very small. I would love to get closure for his fiance in the second book so I hope to see that, but again - hope is small.
If you want to pick your jaw off the ground each chapter with Silas because you feel like there is no way he can become more vicious, carry on.
A Wife for Silas reminded me of the series, Stronger by Jay Marie.
Similar irredeemably, evil monsters as the male leads. Silas definitely does not belong to the band of Antiheroes we all love to love. He is a true monster.
The only emotion Darren (Stronger) and Silas manage to elicit is the desire to see them dead or destroyed at the hand of their captives. The desire to see their victims survive to become their very nemesis.
Lia, (A wife for Silas) was at first similar to Jaden (Stronger series) but as the novel progressed, I grew concerned at her willingness to be delusional and not recognize that she was in between death's teeth.
Her smart mouth made me cheer her on but her willingness to participate in her abuse got me worried. Although, it would be realistic if we think about the Stockholm syndrome. Dinner with the in laws was just the perfect measure of spice to kick things up.
Needless to say, I was worried for nothing. The delusion shattered into a perfect climax. I'm excited to see Lia transform into the perfect avenging phoenix-warrior.
At the end of this book, YOU'RE GOING TO WANT SILAS DEAD.
A page turner for sure. It will trigger some so it's has to be read with some sort of disassociation. The author did a good job with this one.
I'm really hoping part two sees Silas on his knees.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Dnf. I have no issue with reading a dark thriller but I need to be intrigued by at least one of the MCs. To me, this was dark for its own sake and the characters were more of a caricature of what one might expect. I need more complexity and purpose behind the darkness. The author also needs to do more research. Overall, this had potential but, sadly, didn't deliver.
First, I will say that I never write comments. I think the author can write well. I always love a good dark romance. To me there is no point. If you are looking for a violent read with no ending then this book is for you. Maybe the second book offers some sense of a story but it is not currently available.
I forgot to update this. I had to stop. This man really said, i know I’m a nepo baby but I’m gonna get my uni friends and start a new business and that business is gonna be sex trafficking and I’m gonna take a woman and use and abuse her so she can give me a heir for my sex traffic business and I’m gonna constantly sa her and force her to use another name and get plastic surgery. 😒😒😒
This book is NOT for dark readers. It’s definitely not for gray or vanilla readers. One must completely detach itself from EVERYTHING and read this book as it is meant be read….as a fictional story. If you allow yourself to feel outrage, pity, etc., you will definitely miss the “story”.
I gave this story five stars because I stopped about 60% in and waited two months before I could finish reading. I had to find out what happened to Alyssa. Although I DO NOT condone her or anyone else’s suffering, I had to get through it to discover her fate. There is ZERO romance, future readers! Not one iota. Silas is a sick man.
I don’t think I could recommend this book. However, the five stars are for the courage to pen this novel, the novel is available and not banned, and finally all is not lost…. Book 2 is now available!
Silas is a walking red flag! His a hybrid of a socio and psychopath.
This book is pitch black with dark themes so please read your triggers. Lia/ Alyssa the FMC was previously employed by Silas and things go horribly wrong when she gets caught doing the wrong thing. Silas punishes her as he deems fit and let me tell you, this is not HEA.
For the dark booktokers and readers who love pitch black! Again, read those triggers!!!!